1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the art of coverings for doors and windows, and more particularly it relates to the use of lightweight, longitudinally rigid, three dimensional vanes in either horizontal or vertical systems, and with or without a sheer fabric being attached to the vanes to create a variety of new door and window coverings. In its most preferred embodiments, the vanes have a generally air foil shape, have their thin or rearward edges attached to a sheer fabric, and have a tilt control mechanisms to move the vanes between overlapping and generally parallel orientations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A wide variety of blinds, shades, curtains and other types of coverings for doors and windows are known to the art. These include very old product categories, such as roller shades and venetian-type blinds, as well as the newer types of xe2x80x9csoftxe2x80x9d window coverings, including pleated or cellular blinds and shades, various light control products, Roman shades and fabric covered vertical blinds. The latter typically include a track which extends across an opening to be covered, with trucks mounted to the track for movement by a wand device or by cords and pulleys. Vanes are attached to the truck and are pivotable about a vertical longitudinal axis to open them to a first position which permits light to enter a room and to a second position in which the vanes overlap one another, in which case privacy is achieved. Moreover, lightweight fabric sheets have been proposed for attachment to thin, rigid vanes in vertical systems to achieve a different look. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,881 issued to Ruggles, et al. on Jun. 17, 1997 and entitled xe2x80x9cBlind With Curtainxe2x80x9d, which patent is assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
Recently, a number of different vertical blind products have been proposed which include hollow fabric vanes. These can include stiffening compounds to ensure that the bottom rotates the same amount as the top. It has also been proposed that these vanes be prepared in a tubular configuration, the cross-section of which simulates an air foil. These known vanes are made from a fabric material having diagonal, dimensional stability or memory so that they resist stretching in a longitudinal direction. It is also known that with such vanes, a reinforcing strip can be applied about an open end of the vane to provide a durable attachment location for supporting the vane from the truck of the operating system. Patents describing such vanes include U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,442 issued Aug. 25, 1998 to Colson, et al. for xe2x80x9cVanes For Architectural Covering And Method Of Making Samexe2x80x9d and U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,850 issued on Oct. 5, 1999 to Colson, et al. for xe2x80x9cVane For An Architectural Coveringxe2x80x9d.
Preferred vanes used in the aforementioned Colson, et al. patent have a cross-sectional configuration best illustrated in FIG. 6B of the ""442 patent, i.e. one resembling an air foil. Various techniques are described for ensuring that the shape is maintained, such as the use of the aforementioned stiffening compounds, or in the embodiment shown in FIG. 12, the use of a relatively narrow resilient rubber strip along the inside of the blunt or forward end of the vane. Various single and double thickness vanes, and further vane structures, are also disclosed in PCT International Application No. WO96/35881 filed by the same inventors, which application claims priority to the parent application of the aforementioned ""442 Colson, et al. patent.
FIG. 1 of the Colson, et al. ""442 patent discloses a vertical arrangement in which a plurality of vanes are suspended from a track 30 and are pulled across the opening to be covered using a wand. The vanes may be rotated to an open, light admitting position as shown in FIG. 1, or to a privacy position as shown in FIG. 3. If the vane is constructed from transparent or sheer materials, light can be admitted in a diffused pattern into the room when the vanes are in a closed position, as illustrated in FIG. 4 of this patent. An important characteristic of this patent series, however, is that the materials used for the vanes be flexible, even in embodiments which are described as xe2x80x9claminatexe2x80x9d structures, where a functional interior layer is applied to a decorative exterior layer. There is no teaching or suggestion in the Colson, et al. patent series of using air foil vanes in horizontal systems, as the flexible nature of the vanes would cause the vanes to sag and destroy the aesthetics.
Roman shade products can also be prepared in a variety of different ways, one of which is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,731 issued on Apr. 27, 1999 to Wendell B. Colson, et al. and entitled xe2x80x9cMethod And Apparatus For Manufacturing A Looped Cellular Shadexe2x80x9d. In this patent, three dimensional cellular shades which have the general appearance of a Roman shade are prepared using two sheets of fabric, one of which is looped as it is attached to the other. The joints between the two sheets are uniformly displaced from one another and the ratio of the looped decorative fabric to the functional non-looped fabric is greater than one. The ratio is important to ensure that the cells will expand outward as the shade is unrolled. In the embodiment shown and described in connection with FIG. 11, a strip of laminate may be applied to the outside of each of the loops, but such laminating strips do not alter the flexible nature of the loops as is indicated in that FIGURE.
The assignee of the present invention has already filed an application for a xe2x80x9cFoam Core Vane For Door And Window Coveringsxe2x80x9d, i.e. on Aug. 10, 1999 in the name of Bryan K. Ruggles, which application has been granted Ser. No. 09/371,226. In this application, hollow vanes are filled in situ with foam forming materials, such as urethane and polyisocyanurate foams, to cause the vanes to be rigid and allowing them to be used in door and window coverings. The polymeric foam forming liquid is placed inside a fabric sleeve in a mold, so that the sleeve fills when the foam expands to the desired end use shape, most preferably an air foil, cross-sectional shape. This patent application also describes the use of such foam core vanes in horizontal systems. In connection with the horizontal systems, the application indicates that sheer fabric strips may be attached thereto, and an example indicates that such vanes can be manipulated in the ways typically practiced for venetian or mini-blind products in which lift cords are used for altering the distance between the bottom rail and head rail and tilting the vanes for light control.
Different types of window slats and vanes are described in a pair of additional applications filed on the same date as this application, one being entitled xe2x80x9cWindow Covering Slatxe2x80x9d and assigned Ser. No. 09/593,843 and the other entitled xe2x80x9cHollow, Rigid Vanes For Door And Window Coveringsxe2x80x9d and assigned Ser. No. 09/594,619. These applications resemble one another to the extent that they each use a slat base or vane shell which includes a polymer matrix and a plurality of fibers at least partially enveloped by the polymer matrix. In the xe2x80x9cWindow Covering Slatxe2x80x9d application, a fabric covering is preferably attached to the slat base and the slat base with covering may be formed in a variety of cross-sectional shapes including a gently rounded shape (as is typically employed in mini-blind products), S-shaped slats, etc. In the other application, hollow, rigid vanes are constructed from a vane shell or a vane shell which has a fabric covering attached thereto. The two applications share a feature, i.e. the use of a material for the slat base or vane shell which includes fibers disposed in a polymer matrix. In the preferred embodiments described in the two applications, the base or shell is prepared from a fibrous batt comprising two types of fibers, at least one of which is a thermoplastic resin and has a melting point less than the other fiber type. Upon heating the low-melt fiber to the melting point, the low-melt fiber at least partially melts to create a polymer matrix which at least partially envelopes the higher melting fibrous material. At this stage, the combination can be formed into any desired shape, such as an air foil shape or a curled edge shape, and following cooling, the polymer matrix becomes rigid. In the application relating to slats, the slats may be used in horizontal or vertical blinds of the type generally described above, and in the hollow, rigid vane application, the vanes may be used in vertical or horizontal applications including those involving the attachment of sheer fabric strips or sheets thereto.
While the various prior art references described in this section provide useful coverings for doors and windows, a number of additional types of coverings for doors and windows can be employed using rigid, decorative vanes of either the hollow or foam core variety. Such new types of window coverings would represent significant advances in this art.
A feature of the present invention is to provide new types of coverings for doors and windows which employ longitudinally rigid vanes.
Another feature of the invention is to provide Roman shade appearing door and window coverings using lightweight, rigid vanes.
A different feature of the present invention is to provide window coverings utilizing three dimensional, rigid vanes which enhance the insulation capabilities of the door or window covering.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide window coverings using these lightweight, longitudinally rigid vanes having light control (i.e. room darkening, privacy and clear view capabilities), depending upon vane location and further components used with the vanes.
A still further feature of the present invention is to provide a covering for doors or windows which may be used in a cordless operating system due to the lightweight nature of the vane.
Another feature of the invention is to provide coverings for doors or windows which, whether in a horizontal or a vertical orientation, allow the vanes to stack to a side (in a vertical orientation) or at the top (in a horizontal orientation).
Yet another different feature of the present invention is to provide coverings for doors and windows which utilize three dimensional, longitudinally rigid vanes which are soft to the touch and for which various surface treatments may be applied, such as water or stain repellants and the like.
How these and further features of the present invention are accomplished will be described in the following Detailed Description Of The Preferred And Alternate Embodiments, taken in conjunction with the FIGURES. Generally, however, they are provided by using vanes of either the foam filled or vane shell variety, together with operating components that allow them to be mounted in horizontal or vertical orientations. In one embodiment, the vanes are mounted to a sheer fabric, and stacking cord mechanisms as well as tilting mechanisms are provided. In another embodiment, a cordless spring drive motor system is employed for raising and lowering a horizontal door or window covering. In another embodiment of the invention, tapes are used to tilt and lower horizontal door and window coverings made using the vanes of the present invention. In a still further embodiment of the invention, tapes can be used for tilting and lowering of the vanes while the opposite edges of the vanes are attached to a sheer fabric which allows a view between the vanes when they are in the opened position. In a still further embodiment of the invention, the vanes are mounted between tapes, without using a bottom rail. In the preferred embodiments, the foam core vanes or the rigid, hollow vanes described in the aforementioned applications filed on even date herewith are used as the vane elements in the various window covering embodiments. Other ways in which the features of the invention are accomplished will become apparent to those skilled in the art after they have read the foregoing description of the preferred and alternate embodiments, such other ways falling within the scope of the invention if they fall within the scope of the appended claims.